We were lucky to catch up with Jonah Babins recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jonah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
Yes! I’ve been able to earn a living performing magic and coaching magician business owners.. I think it comes in two faces. The first is making sure you offer something that people want. For me – I always performed magic as a kid, and people starting trying to hire me for events. Synagogues, family birthday parties, summer camps, company events and more. That’s when I knew it was possible to perform magic. For coaching I started offering my services for free, running a podcast teaching what I know, and then people started asking for help.
The second phase is once you know you have something that people want – scaling it. All forms of marketing work – some more than others for their field. For me cold email, online ads, content, and SEO have been great ways to put people in front of me. Learning these skills take time, and they require resources like watching videos, courses, and teachers.
It’s the same for every business. It’s been the same for me performing magic as it has been for me coaching magicians. First make sure you have something that people want, and then – market the heck out of it!
Jonah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a magician and magic business coach.
I perform magic at mostly corporate events, and company parties. As you can imagine that makes December the busiest time of year because that’s when every company does their holiday parties. But there can be busy and slow seasons all the time. I do this through the Toronto Magic Company
As for a magic business coach, I coach magicians on how to market their own magic, sell their services, and organize their systems to keep track of everything. These are critical skills if you’re owning your own business. I do this through the Discourse in Magic podcast.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
WhenI was younger I thought the way to became a full time magician was to be really awesome at magic. Obviously that helps, but it wasn’t until I took marketing into my own hands that I learn show business is part show and bart business.
In any artistic field the biggest lesson is that being good at the art is not the only thing that makes someone successful. You have to learn how to market your services. No matter if you’re playing guitar, painting or like me – performing magic. Marketing your services is the biggest most important part.
Have you ever had to pivot?
The pandemic was an obviously interesting time. Overnight we lost tens of thousands of dollars in shows, and had to figure out how to be full time performers in a world where there were no stages – so we made our own!
During that time me and the Toronto Magic Company performed virtual magic shows for companies, hosted 5 virtual magic conventions, and live streamed magic shows on Facebook and Youtube. It was a lot of learning, but mostly it was a lot of fun to perform, entertain, and connect with people virtually!
For most that was a really tough chapter, but for me and Ben Train (my business partner) at The Toronto Magic Company, that was some of the most fun and creative time we’ve ever had!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://torontomagiccompany.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torontomagiccompany
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TorontoMagicCompany
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/101755997/admin/dashboard/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/torontomagiccompany
Image Credits
Brian Bray